Streak of days without inch of snow finally over

Peter NickeasTribune reporter

More than an inch of snow fell on Chicago today, ending a streak that began 335 days ago.

At 9:30 a.m., 1.1 inches of snow was recorded at O'Hare International Airport since midnight. That's the first day an inch or more of snow has fallen there since last February. The previous record was a stretch of 319 days set in 1940.

This morning's light snow also marks the latest it has gone during a winter before an inch of snow has fallen over a day.

Chicago has usually received about 18 inches of snow by this time, according to WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling. As of this afternoon, just under 3 inches of snow have fallen on the city this winter.

"There's been no winter that's been as lackluster as this one," Skilling said.

But the season could still make a comeback.

Skilling said he studied the city's 10 driest winters and found most of them took a snowy turn in February or March. In one of those winters, 22 inches fell in February after next to nothing in January, he said.

With six days left in January, Chicago is trailing its monthly average for precipitation -- rain and snow -- by about a quarter of an inch, according to state climatologist Jim Angel.

"It would take a lot of snow to catch up on the major deficits we're seeing in the northern part of the state," he said.